Read. Write. Listen. Create.

Some of you may have already read this post, but today is the actual day it was supposed to be posted. Whoops! Welcome to First Lines Friday! This is when I give the summary of a book and then write the first few lines. First Lines Friday was created by Wandering Words.

Instead of judging a book by its cover or author, you can read the first few lines and see what you think.

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book

The summary on Goodreads and Amazon says:

Set in the 1950s, this Southern Gothic thriller reimagines the life of Marilyn Monroe, tying her fate to a dreamy teenager whose boyfriend runs afoul of the mob.

Desperate to break free of small-town Florida, Addie Anne Buckley dreams of following in the path of her glamorous aunt Jean—known to the world as Marilyn Monroe.

When Aunt Jean plans a trip to Hollywood for Addie’s eighteenth birthday, Addie sees her chance to escape.

One thing stands in her way: her boyfriend. Truitt Holt is Addie’s first and only love and will be joining her in California. But days before Addie’s due to leave, Truitt does an about-face and gives her a painful ultimatum: stay and marry him, or they’re through. Addie chooses her dream.

Hurt and angry, Truitt unwittingly exposes the illegal bolita game he’s been running in mob territory. Now the Tampa Mafia is after him, and he has until midnight to cut a deal that will save his life and Addie’s. What he doesn’t know…his trouble with the mob has already found Addie and her family. She’s already in a fight for her life.

First Lines: “Every April, the orange blossoms bloomed. Year after year, the whole of Lake County, Florida, would spend those weeks sucking in deep, full breaths and smiling at that sweet scent.”

The book is Lake County by Lori Roy. I’ll be starting this book this summer. Perfect for a roadtrip to see the Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the Academy Museum.